About a year ago, I was staying at a new Hampton Inn across the street from the Wisconsin State Fair Park in West Allis on the west side of Milwaukee. I was driving down National that evening to go find something to eat and I passed what appeared to be a barbecue joint. Driving back after dinner, I went slowly by the place and it turned out that it was a barbecue place, but they were closed because it was Monday. I made a mental note to head back to West Allis at some point to try Double B's BBQ. On a non-Monday evening recently, I had the chance to do just that.
You could say that the restaurant business is in Mark Timber's blood. He started out as a youngster working in his father's pizza place, Dino's Pizza, just north of General Mitchell International Airport on Milwaukee's south side. From there, Timber moved on to manage the Telstar Drive-in just down the road from Dino's. When his father sold Dino's, he moved to Taos, New Mexico to retire. Mark followed his father and he started working in a fine dining establishment, La Doña Luz (which is now a bed-and-breakfast in Taos). It turns out that the elder Timber couldn't handle retirement and he ended up buying a restaurant in Taos. But Mark Timber found that he missed Milwaukee and he moved back after five years in Taos.
Now married to his wife, Judy, the Timber's bought a custard stand in south suburban Oak Creek in the early 80's, selling it in 1987. From there, Mark Timber went to work for the new Potawatomi Bingo (now the Potawatomi Hotel and Casino) helping design their kitchen and coming up with the menus for the burgeoning gambling establishment. After his time at Potawatomi, he moved on to help run Butch's Old Casino Steak House for 12 years before the place closed in 2015.
A few years ago between jobs at restaurants, Timber was working part-time at a cabinet shop in the Milwaukee area. He was talking with one of his co-workers about his restaurant experience and his co-worker suggested that Timber to go out and invest in a smoker. What started out as a casual home hobby for Timber turned into something of an obsession. After his time at Butch's came to an end, he saw an on-line ad looking for someone to take over the kitchen at Double B's, a small bar on West Greenfield. He decided to jump in with both feet and start up his barbecue operation.
Pictured at right - Mark and Judy Timber. Photo courtesy Timber's Catering Facebook Page.
At first, the regular clientele who were used to a non-barbecue menu at Double B's were a little weary of the change. However, it wasn't long before the Timber's Memphis-style barbecue offerings won many of them over and created their own following that includes people from Chicago coming up to have their barbecue. The family also runs a catering company and a food truck with their son, Phil. Their daughter, Christina, runs the bar now at Double B's, and not long ago the family bought a spot a couple doors to the east of Double B's that they're going to use as a banquet/celebration hall for their catering company.
I pulled up in front of Double B's around 6:30 that particular evening. I was able to find a parking spot just down the way from the place on Greenfield Ave. (see map) Actually, I could have walked from the hotel to Double B's as it was less than a half mile away. But it was a cool evening - spring was having trouble making a normal appearance in the Upper Midwest this year - and I thought I'd just drive to the barbecue joint.
I was greeted by Stephen, who turned out to be my server for the evening, as well. The place was filling up fast and the bar was packed. He took me to a table that had a banquette seat across the west wall of the place. As much as I detest sitting at tables with banquette seats, I decided I could work with it on this visit.
Stephen dropped off a menu for me to look through. They had a number of good craft beers available at the bar and I ordered up a Karben4 Fantasy Factory IPA, it's quickly becoming one of my favorite beers.
They have the usual barbecue offerings at Double B's - brisket, pulled pork, smoked chicken, sausage, as well as both baby back and spare ribs. They also feature a number of smoked meat sandwiches as well as burgers, and some pretty interesting appetizers including smoked chicken wings, burnt ends and bacon-wrapped meatballs. I damned near ordered up some of those just to try. Next time.
For dinner that evening I got the brisket platter. It featured thick cuts of tender brisket with a combination rub consisting of a bit of ground chile and black pepper with a bit of sugar. The meat is smoked with hickory wood - low and slow. I had a choice of sides with the brisket. I got the baked beans and the cole slaw. (Cornbread, French fries, sweet potato fries, and a house-made mac & cheese were also available as sides.) Some bread and butter pickles came with the platter.
The brisket was very good. It pulled apart very easily when I cut it with my fork. I really didn't need a knife with it. The rub combined with the smokiness of the hickory wood flavor in the meat was a great taste sensation.
I know I shouldn't have even dallied with the barbecue sauce, but Double B's had three that I tried. They had a XXX Picante barbecue sauce that I didn't really think was all that hot. It did sneak up on me after a few moments, but it wasn't anything that I couldn't handle. But they had a Kansas City-style sauce that was thick and sweet. But the one I liked the best of the three was the Texas bold sauce which was basically the Kansas City-style sauce with some ground hot pepper mixed in. It had great sweet and somewhat spicy taste quality.
The cole slaw was a creamy/vinegar blend that I thought was very good, as well. The beans, I thought, were good, but they got extremely better when I added some of the Texas bold sauce to them. Overall, I thought the barbecue was very solid.
Before I took off, I went to the restroom and then ventured out back to their patio area. The patio was empty that evening, but I'm sure that it fills up when the weather warms up. Filament heaters and Edison lights were hanging from the rafters, but the focus of the patio was large hickory wood smoker - one of two that Timber uses. Timber employs 3 pit masters and his two smokers are running 24 hours a day to keep up with the demand for his meats for both the restaurant, the food truck and the catering business. Timber's catering company provides food for over 100 events annually, the vast majority of them are weddings. Many of the customers that come into Double B's probably had their first taste of Timber's barbecue at a wedding held out west of Milwaukee at some point.
I've tried some barbecue places around Milwaukee over the years and I have to say that I really wasn't impressed with any of them - until now. Mark and Judy Timber's Double B BBQ is solid Memphis-style barbecue with a simple rub and a wonderful smoky flavor to their meats. Their baked beans were good - even better with the addition of their Texas Bold barbecue sauce - and I thought their cole slaw was good, as well. They had a wonderful selection of local and regional craft beers, and had a full bar, as well. Double B's is closed on Sunday and Monday, but you can enjoy their barbecue the other days of the week. I know I'll be going back at some point to try the bacon-wrapped meatballs appetizer.
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